Tasmanian Devil Endangered as Cancer Hits

May 19, 2008 -- Australia's Tasmanian devil will be listed as an endangered species this week as a result of a deadly and disfiguring cancer outbreak, the state government said Monday.

The disease, a fast-growing head tumor which spreads over the marsupial's face and mouth and prevents it from eating, often killing it within months, has cut the island's devil population in the wild by as much as 60 percent.

A spokeswoman for Tasmania's Primary Industries Minister David Llewellyn said the small, black-haired animal would be listed as an endangered species by state officials on Wednesday.

The minister told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the animal would be upgraded from a vulnerable to an endangered species so that the "appropriate resources and effort" can be poured into protecting it.

The government has also backed a plan to build an "insurance population" of healthy Tasmanian devils at wildlife reserves, zoos and other protected areas.

"If required, these animals could be utilized to help re-establish Tasmanian devil numbers in the wild," Llewellyn said.

The facial tumor is extremely unusual in that it is a contagious cancer, spread from devil to devil by biting.

The devil is the world's largest marsupial carnivore and now only lives in Australia's southern island state.

Early European settlers named the feisty marsupial the devil for its spine-chilling screeches, dark appearance and reputed bad temper which, along with its steeltrap jaw, made it appear incredibly fierce.

Such a sad thing to read about! There are so many animals that are suffering because of humans and this is just one more creature that we have damaged. We as people should step back and look at what we have done to the world we live on and realize that the more missing animals there are, the more likely that Man ends up going the way of the Dodo too...

LONG TIME NO SEE!!

I know it's been a long time since my last post, but to be honest, I have been.... neglecting to do things like this.
Since last September, I have been up North for New Years, back up North for a funeral and I should be heading back North again in July. In between I have enjoyed Winterlude, and the snow storms and the great melt we've had.
Now I'm enjoying all the tulips and other good smelling things that grow this time of year. I watched as the canal was filled, not to exciting, and I've walked the 7 km trail along the canal from Downtown to Dows Lake.
Needless to say, most of that was fun, but it's boring when you do most of it alone...
I'm going to try to keep up with posts, at least once or twice a week. Hopfuly as the summer gose on, I'll have pictures and stories to post and even if I don't... I'll keep updateing the picture of the day and things like that...

A sad day in the World Of Dragonmount

Sad news from the world of fantasy literature. Robert Jordan, known best as the author of the “Wheel of Time” series of books, died on the afternoon of Sunday September 16th after more than a year battling cardiac amyloidosis. The news comes from a message left on the author’s blog.

The site says, “”It is with great sadness that I tell you that the Dragon is gone. RJ left us today at 2:45 PM. He fought a valiant fight against this most horrid disease. In the end, he left peacefully and in no pain.” Funeral arrangements will be posted later on the blog, and for fans interesting in sending his family their best wishes, the comments section on Jordan’s there seems to be the place to do it.

Robert Jordan was a prominent voice in modern fantasy literature. The author’s massive Wheel of Time series has long been a top seller, and with his death he leaves the series’ twelfth book unfinished and his story painfully incomplete. It was the twelfth book which was supposed to end the series, finally finishing the story of Rand al’ Thor and his friends, a finale in the making since the publishing of the first WoT book “The Eye of the World” back in 1990.

As someone who’s read all eleven books, this hurts. Not just because now we’ll never know how 17 years worth of character development ends, but because Jordan seemed like a genuinely good person who loved what he was doing and loved his fans. Right now my thoughts are with his family and friends, but from now on whenever I look at his spot on my bookshelf it’ll always be to selfishly wonder what might have been.

The Days Niagara Falls Went Dry... March 29-31, 1848"

The flow of water was stopped completely over American Falls & Horseshoe Falls on March 29th 1848. "Due to an ice jam in the upper river for several hours. This is the only known time to have occurred. The Falls did not actually freeze over, but the flow was stopped to the point where people actually walked out and recovered artifacts from the riverbed".
Even during the coldest months, "the river waters continue to flow, carrying Lake Erie and Niagara River ice over the cataract and into the great basin below the Falls. Some of these blocks of ice are quite large and able to temporarily withstand the erosive forces of the raging waters. When the temperatures are right, some of the falling water freezes instantly on the block ice and form great ice falls in front of the actual waterfalls. Such formations grow further forming castle turrets and other outcrop patterns as the mist settles on them. On occasion, a ice bridge forms across the Niagara River within the Great Gorge below the Falls as a result of the laying down of these ice blocks.
On six reported occasions (1883, 1896, 1904, 1909, 1936 and 1947), the water flow over American Falls has been totally blocked by ice and ceased to fall. But only once has this happened to the much larger Horseshoe Falls (originally known as the Canadian Falls)

Crashes kill 13 in Ontario, including groom a day before his wedding

Among the 13 people killed on Ontario roads over the long weekend were a Good Samaritan who stopped to help at a crash.

A man was killed while trying to help a teenager who had crashed his car on a rural road near Kitchener. He died after a volunteer firefighter on the way to the accident also lost control and crashed.

Two people, were killed on Highway 402 when a minivan carrying eight family members rolled into a ditch. Police said only two passengers were wearing seatbelts.

An 80-year-old woman was killed in a head-on collision the woman was struck by a man who is suspected of impaired driving. The man, who also died in the crash, was travelling the wrong way down the Highway

Two brothers were killed, after hitting a tree. Guy, was to be married Saturday while his brother Marcel, was his best man. On the same day, a camper trailer rolled over killing one person.

A mother was killed Friday on Highway 401 She had pulled her three-year-old daughter from her vehicle after it was struck by a transport truck. She was returning to the car when the vehicle was struck a second time.

Every year and every long weekend there are warnings about drinking and driving, about wearing your seat belts and after every long weekend we hear sad, sad stories about young people, the elderly and the saddest is the stories we hear about people that were ready to be married, or that a baby was involved. Sometimes crashes have nothing to do with alcohol, and those, if nothing was distracting the driver... (cell phone, other people in the car, the view)... those are accidents. What happened over this long weekend could have been avoided.

A Bride weeps for a love lost forever today, grandchildren cry for their Grandmother, and more people will thing twice before being a Good Samaritan
at the side of the road.

What a Great Idea!

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Who says Tom and Jerry can't be friends?

For the past year, a special Colombian police unit has been locking rats in cages with cats as part of a project to train the rodents to sniff out the more than 100,000 land mines planted mostly by leftist rebels across this conflict-wracked Andean country.

Bringing the rats face to face with an enemy allows them to stay more focused once they are released, veterinarian Luisa Mendez, who's been working with the animals for two years, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The rodents are taught to freeze in front of mines, but had difficulty staying put for fear of being attacked by predators.

"Here the cats play with the rats instead of attacking them," Mendez said. "The cats wear shields on their nails so they can't cause any injuries and as a result the rats feel comfortable playing around them."

Col. Javier Cifuentes, who oversees the project, said the rats' success rate in mine detection is 96 percent. Unlike dogs, the rats weigh a lot less and therefore don't trigger explosions.

Colombia is home to the world's largest number of land mine victims. Last year, there were 1,108 victims, or about one every eight hours, the government says. Nearly a quarter of the victims die from their injuries.

The past that haunts me

Every now and then someone or something from my past comes barging into my present. It has honestly take me many years to let go of what I couldn't change and now, get this, with technology that stupid past that makes me want to cry comes and bashes me no the head! Lost chances, lost friends and worst of all lost love never given a chance.
When I think back 10 or more years I remember people that filled my days with joy. The friends that I got up out of bed to see everyday. I even look back on the days that I had to cry and wished to start over with fondness. I remember seeing my high school crush and daydreaming of what could be. Not that any of it came true... I feel jipped, almost like, even though I lived everyday to the fullest I really missed out on something. I am happy with my husband, I could never find someone better. But I will always regret that I never took a chance to see what I could really get out of life.
Kudos to you my Heart, may the life you have found bring you the happiness and fullness that seems to be eluding me.